SA government again rejects claims on farm attacks

By Johnathan Paoli

The International Relations and Cooperation Department has moved to “set the record straight” following the release of the 2024 US Human Rights Report, which raised alarm about the safety of rural and farming communities in South Africa.

It claimed that racial minorities, particularly Afrikaners, were facing systematic abuse.

In an updated response on Wednesday, the department leaned on official South African Police Service (SAPS) data covering rural safety during the fourth quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year (1 January – 31 March 2025).

Six murders were reported. The victims included three farm employees, one farm dweller and two farmers.

“These figures underscore that violent crime in rural areas affects everyone who lives and works on farms and related rural areas. While the loss of any life is a tragedy, these statistics do not reveal a pattern of action driven by inflammatory racial rhetoric against a specific community,”